Financial Translation

Financial Translation: The Facts

Become aware of the contrasts in dealing with finance

The globalisation taking place over the past decades has made the world not only smaller but also exchanges between its people easier. As a result, an increasing number of companies are doing business internationally and now need to determine means for adaptation to different cultures, customs and, of course, languages. Establishing a business overseas requires more than simply going abroad, finding a place and opening a new outlet. To be fully integrated in a foreign country each and every aspect of your business must be fully understood and accurately translated; here comes the need for efficient financial translation.

Indeed, the word business itself contains a financial meaning, and some businesses only deal with finances. The financial sector itself is vast, including banking services, investment, insurance, real estate companies and accounting firms … so many organisations for which a proper and meticulous translation of the financial terms is crucial to allow them to provide a service as reliable in their home country as in their host country.

Financial translation is more than putting words in a foreign language; it is the financial concept itself that has to be translated and conveyed from one country to another. Financial language may vary from one nation to another regarding format, numbering and terms. For instance, let’s consider the English and French way to write numbers: where the English insert a point, the French insert a coma, and vice versa. One may well ask, “What does it matter?”. Well of course it matters when millions of Pounds Sterling or Euros are at stake! If such a difference can be of consequence in neighbour countries then let’s just imagine how disastrous a mistranslation of an annual balance sheet or other cash flow statement can be when two far-away and highly culturally different countries come into the picture.

An accurate financial translation requires a trained translator, able to identify those variances in accounting standards and to handle different financial and economic material such as annual reports, bank statements, business plans, shareholders information, or insurance related documents. In addition to the varieties in terminology and documents, the translator must be aware of the current regulations in terms of finance as they can have an impact on his/her translation as well. At Expert Language Solutions we work with reliable translators, specialised and experienced in the financial sector, endowed with a full understanding of the subject.

Our translators can cover a large variety of financial documents including: